Leah Nanako Winkler's KENTUCKY to Close SU Drama's 2025/26 Season
Performances run in April and May at the Storch Theatre, directed by Michelle Chan.
The Syracuse University Department of Drama will finish out the 2025/2026 season with “Kentucky,” Leah Nanako Winkler's tale of two sisters who grow up, grow apart and find themselves back together with wildly different lives. Directed by Michelle Chan, performances will be held April 24 through May 3 in the Storch Theatre at the Syracuse Stage/SU Drama Complex, 820 East Genesee St.
Hiro is a self-made woman making it in New York. But she is also single, almost thirty, and estranged from her dysfunctional family who lives in Kentucky. When her little sister, a born-again Christian, decides to marry at twenty-two, Hiro takes it upon herself to do whatever she can to stop the wedding and salvage any shred of hope she had about her sister's future.
Identity, religion and love collide in “Kentucky,” playwright Leah Nanako Winkler's powerful and poignant coming-of-age story.
The cast features Jessica Chien as Masako, Nika Jomei Cospolite as Da'Ran, Christian Ellwood as Adam, Emily Kiyomi Gorin as Sophie, Zia Gulson as Bridesmaid, Ellis Eunjin Honma as Hiro, Abigail Hunnewell as Sylvie, Jordan Massey as Nicole, Livia Nieves as Bridesmaid, Sofía Peralta as Bridesmaid, Tuleck Porchia as Ernest, Mia Rohan as Amy, Sam Ryan as Grandma, Sofia Slaman as Laura, Harrison M. Wei as Larry and Groomsman, and Seth Winnick as James.
